Sustainability – The power of partnerships

7 Apr 2021 • 3 minute read

Green Gift Cards together with our partners, Holman Iggesund, are proud to be working with the UK Gift Card and Voucher Association (GCVA) as their sustainability partners for 2021. By working together, we hope to bring the subject of the environment to the forefront of our industry to continue the important discussion of our impact on the planet.

A number of organisations have realised that there is power in numbers when it comes to sustainability. Companies often find themselves wanting to make their businesses greener but often don’t have the knowledge and/or resources to do so, this is where sustainability partnerships can help to fill the void.

It is all too easy for brands and organisations to choose the easy option, which in effect is green washing rather than genuinely dealing with the root of the issue. Schemes for planting more trees is great, and we do our fair share, but in isolation and used for carbon offsetting it simply doesn't deal with the cause of the issue and today there are so many truly green alternatives that can help brands do more than just offsetting the environmental impact on the climate. Through our partnership with the GCVA for 2021, we are on hand to help across a number of areas relating to card programmes from the materials used and production processes through to recycling and waste management.

At Green Gift Cards we consider our partnership with Iggesund to be very special. Not only do they support our continued endeavour to rid the world of plastic cards, their support with research and development as well as the production of unique versions of the Invercote paperboard have helped us achieve our market leading position and continued innovation.

Iggesund work in harmony with nature, ensuring anything they borrow from the environment goes back and is replaced exactly how they found it - this is why they are rated in the top 1% greenest organisations in the world. The wood used for these paperboards comes from nearby forests, provides both the raw material for the paperboard and also the energy to power the process. They also use water from nearby lakes and rivers in the manufacturing process and in the power stations.

The efficient industrial process has a low environmental impact and almost exclusive use of clean bio-energy in the production process.

Our regular mill visits really help to convey just how amazing the process from seed to paper really is and we look forward to starting these again for GCVA members soon.

Without the extremely strong partnerships and agreements that we have forged with our supply chain we would not be able to provide our market leading certified plastic free product. Each of them follows our own ethos and determination to make positive changes in the way we work for the good of the environment. At the heart of Green Gift Cards is the spirit of collaboration, transparency and openness as we continue our mission to rid the world of unnecessary plastic cards.